The Zimmermann Note

I think that the first question you have to ask yourself is why you are supporting Hillary Clinton.

Are you supporting her because she is a female?

If so then what does that mean to you? Do you believe that her being female that she will support women’s rights? If so what exactly does that mean?

Having anger or spite over an election that was clearly lost is not the same as feeling that you have somewhat been stolen the election which was clearly not the case. Say what you want about Florida and Michigan but both of those states should and will not come into play. This is nobody’s fault. This was not Barack’s fault or even the Democratic Parties fault.

If it is about her being a woman then is it all about that or something else? Is the belief that she will support womens rights and if so will John McCain do a better job of this in the future?

Voting for spite based on an election Clinton clearly lost is not smart when it comes to your future as well as your family and friends.

As an American, for the past 35 years I have seen our nation grow more divisive with each passing year. Red states and Blue states seem to have walls built up and rather than tearing them down we constantly fight and bicker rather than believe that the other side has any logical argument.

As an American, I have always considered myself a bit of a moderate Democrat. As I peruse the three final candidates for election on the Democratic end I want to bring a candidate into office that I believe will be able to work with both sides of the aisle and to bring upon a new chapter in American history that does not look to divide this country but bring it together.

Our country has been wounded by the attacks not from 9/11 but the attacks that have gone on by both sides of the aisle that look to take down the other side with dirty politics.

Carolyn Kennedy wrote in an op-ed piece in the New York Times which described her feelings about Barack Obama as associating Obama with her father, John F. Kennedy. In my opinion, Obama is this person that can bring this nation back together.

On the issues alone, Clinton, Obama and Edwards are all pretty similar.  So for me it came down to who I thought was not just going to inspire me but inspire someone that does not always agree with me.

One of the things that I have noticed in the past 8 years of Republican leadership is that either you are “Good” or you are “Evil”, you are “For Us or you are Against Us”. This divisiveness has created more harm than good. It has taken our friends and made them our enemies.

That is the element that our great nation needs. That is the element that needs to heal our country of its differences and inspire and truly lead our great nation. As I listen to Barack Obama speak as he did last night in South Carolina I am reminded that even we as individuals have become just as divisive and willing to not listen to the other side. Here is a man that has passed this message wherever he has gone, since catapulting himself in the national spotlight nearly 4 years ago when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

What has strengthened my resolve for Barack Obama is how he has handled the attacks by both Hillary and Bill Clinton who have tried to paint him as a Black Candidate rather than a candidate. I have always felt support for a candidate not based on their race, gender or ethnicity but their ideas and values.  The last two months have seen me as well go from having a positive opinion of both Hillary and Bill to an overall negative one.  It has gotten to the point where I have questioned whether I could vote for Hillary in the general election if she was the Democratic candidate.

I believe that Hillary Clinton is an intelligent viable candidate for the Presidency.  In the manner in which her husband was a former president would have offered this country the unique experience of rebuilding the country.  What has discouraged me is Bill Clintons lack of empathy this election cycle that has turned me against both of them. I was a big Clinton supporter for years but cannot get past this element that is threatening to divide the Democratic party.

In talking with other people what really has strengthened my beliefs is the idea of so many young people that have been inspired by Barack Obama. I speak to the older generations specifically about this of who do you want to lead our country. Think to yourselves not what your vote means to you but what it means for your children and grandchildren. We see a leader that has different ideas and values of what it means to be president in Obama.

I have listened to many people get driven to tears listening to his speeches which reminds me that politicians still have the ability to move and influence rather than bicker and fight. Barack Obama is the first candidate that I felt has spoken to me and that is why I am supporting him for President of the United States.

Mitt Romney wants to be the religious conservative that is not a religious conservative.  Mormonism has also become a very difficult issue for Americans and Romney to deal with. While Kennedy might have had problems being a Roman Catholic in the 60s, I think that the difference between Catholicism and Mormonism is that Mormonism is slightly askew in its beliefs, especially the issue of Polygamy, as well as some of the views of the Mormon Religion which is not truly Protestant or Catholic but falls outside both of these groups. Mormons in their own way are looked at as a “Cult” in some sects of the Christian faith and by these same people not really considered Christians whatsoever.

While all three groups do share the bible as a source for their beliefs, Mormons also use the book of Mormon and that is where the problems truly exist.

How do you pretend to be a man of faith within a party of faith that does not trust your faith?

I am not sure who to believe anymore, whether, the CTA should just go away completely, whether IL Speaker Michael Madigan is right, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley or Rob Blagojevitch.

 First things first, Blago is short on balls and has shown already that he is weak when playing with these powerful people. I can only imagine that a Governor like Jim Thompson or Edgar would have the same problem. Secondly, what is the problem with the infighting that is going on amongst Democrats. With all the power they are unable to come up with a solution to this crisis and the sad part is that now there is talk about the CTA striking over the states “Pussyfooting” around this issue.

The last we hear, both Daley and Madigan walked out of the meetings held by Blagojevitch in regards to the CTA feeling that the meetings had more to do with other things rather than the transit problem in Chicago.

And as I stood in the bus in my morning commute as the regular pedestrian members of the Chicago population became sardines I looked at the bus driver trying to hold it all together in a crowded bus and thought, this is not the problem of anyone in this bus and we have been left in a situation where there is consistently not enough transportation and too much complaining.

This should be something that we could take care of pretty quickly but instead we are going to find out come January many of us will be stuck in the cold waiting endlessly for a bus that will take us twice as long to get to work and Chicagoans are going to get angry and fight back.

 

The Abraham Lincoln DilemmaAbraham Lincoln is probably our most fascinating president if for only the way that

Lincoln ran the country during the Civil War. No other president before or after could in part keep this country together without going through the means at which he did it. However, by doing so, he left the country open to leaders who have used him as an example to further their own power, aka, President Dubya. The issue of secession is a large one in part because no other president before that believed they had the power to do anything about it. In fact, the entire idea of secession from the

Union was purposefully kept out of the Constitution for this very purpose. Realize that when the framers of the constitution met, they wanted a strong union, especially Hamilton who envisioned

America to be an Empire rather than a collection of states. By framing the constitution without an “Out Clause” the states were in many regards forced to comply with the federal government. While there were still rights within each state, this championed however the idea of a strong unified government. Some people,  Libertarians especially, point blame at

Lincoln for enacting war against the South for seceding but if they have no constitutional merits for seceding how can they? In effect they were breaking the constitution for doing exactly this. It is “Constitutionally Plausible” for instance in

Canada to secede.  Presidents before this avoided the issue entirely by claiming that the Constitution did not give the President any powers in preventing this from happening.

Lincoln believed that his ultimate goal was to keep the nation whole and not split. There have been instances where some have felt that Lincoln went too far, in his suspension of Habeas Corpus in 1861 the loss of Freedom of Speech due to militant action was, in his opinion, dangerous enough that he felt it necessary to do so. We avoid this topic in many history books when discussing

Lincoln and some might look at this issue as being the impetus that Presidents have used since then to protect the nation. The question of course when dealing with the constitution is keeping in context the time and place for it. The Constitution was created to safeguard against individuals freedoms being trampled upon at the same time there is the fear factor of Terrorism. However, even the term “Terrorism” is more a byproduct of the times and sends a different message to the public than just being a “Militant”. Our American forefathers were terrorists. Washington was a terrorist as was

Hamilton. The Boston Tea Party was the most famous terrorist act this side of 9/11. The aspect of this small nation at the time defeating the

British Empire is ‘Terrorism’. There always will be terrorism as I see it. Greenpeace is a terrorist organization as I see it. Every President since

Lincoln has impeded on these actions with the exception of a minor few that did not. Some others like FDR might have gone beyond the scope and detail of their duties but at the same time they did so with the idea of strengthening the

United States. The

Lincoln dilemma however looks at the increased powers of what the President and Chief Executive can do. While we are in a “War” that war does not threaten the sanctitude of the United States which was what

Lincoln had fought against.  As this nation has pushed farther into the idea of becoming a Police State, we have used “Fear” as a means to push policies rather than logic.  And rather than sitting down with our enemies we have cut off negotiations which has only made things worse. It was Bush that labeled Iraq, Iran and

North Korea the “Axis of Evil”, a term that is consistent with other aspects of this Republican controlled White House. They forced us into a war that should have never begun and we are paying the price for it.

Lincoln is fascinating if only for this reason. His legacy even with his low popularity was due to his measures that he created.  Are we going to feel the same way about Bush in 50 years? I doubt it.

Face the facts, based on the following facts from the CTA they are planning on cutting over 82 Bus Routes which is over half the routes that travel the city streets. I am not sure if the lawmakers are aware that some of these routes are major arteries of travel amongst the citizens of the City Of Chicago.  While this is one of the first times in history I have been pushed to write a letter to all of my representatives, I just cannot see myself voting for any of them if something is not done. For the non-Chicagoan, I do not have a car, I do not need a car and I can live with the CTA. Yes, I am from the Wilco perspective that you can “Kiss and ride on the CTA”.

 

What I cannot live with is the aspect that nearly every bus that I take to work is going to be terminated come January 6, 2008 unless budgetary measures are made in the Illinois Legislature.

 

My immediate feeling is that this issue will close the book on Chicago’s 2016 Olympic Hopes. Fact is that I will write the Olympic Committee myself.

 

Transportation is the key to commerce and by cutting off transportation this city will just become an average city with a very disappointed population.

 

When I started this site up I thought I would write more about politics and I have found myself feeling more and more cynical about everyone within government. Maybe there is part of me that wants this to happen and maybe Government will wake up, cause if the CTA is cut, nobody is safe. Not even Daley.

As horrifying or atrocious that we see in Myanmar, we are reminded that technology is finally making the right impact. Rather than follow our rock stars and movie stars, real pictures of the despair that is going on in this world as trumped the national news spotlight the last week or so.

The image has a way of conveying much more than words can ever portray and technology will be a constant reminder for any country, government or other entity that they are being watched.

The theme from ‘1984’ has in many respects shown a dualistic role where the public is just as wary at the government as it of the public. There are enough cases over the years of police brutality on tape, photos coming from the Iraq war (see Abu Garaib prison), and other assorted events that have made their way onto YouTube, Flickr or some other site.

We are seeing a changing of the guard where the public are the real police and it will become even more challenging in the years ahead where more and more video and photos are in the hands of Joe Nobody rather than a news organization.

What is interesting is that the Promotional Pundits at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX are following public interest rather than their own polls, that the real stories are not what they force feed us on a nightly basis but something else.

At the end of the day, we see very low approval ratings for our government as they are caught off-guard about what is expected and what the public wants.

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I like how the oil companies like to market these ideas and values to us as if they are Beyond Petroleum and seeking conscious alternatives whereby they are just as guilty as they always have been.  

The point to the corporation is to make money and not to improve and or help out society and for a company that made 6 Billion dollars last year, I do question the motives and thoughts behind this.  

Lake Michigan is such a beautiful natural resource for

America we do not need any more excess pollutants than have already been added to the lake.

Interesting to see this.

I watched some of the CNN YouTube Debate and I thought it was just alright and thought that CNN advertised it way too much. I seem to always have CNN on the TV if for anything for background noise when I am in the need of some.

That being said, the questions and segments were repeated ad nauseum to the point where it was getting a little silly.

However, at the same time what the YouTube debate did provide was bring some color to the questions rather than just a standard debate. Elections have gotten to the point where the best candidate does not win but the best advertising campaign wins. I think that the YouTube debate mixed things up a little bit whereby CNN picked and chose the types of questions that might be good for television.

While CNN is obviously the most left of the cable news stations, they are not the voice of liberals, at least according to Michael Moore who has gone on rants about CNN and his new movie ‘Sicko’. And one of the faces of the station ‘Lou Dobbs’, I could hardly consider to be a liberal, Larry King is in La La land, Wolf Blitzer seems to be more neutral which pits Anderson Cooper as the most liberal, however, I find him to be more compassionate rather than trying to promote a liberal cause. This is not Bill O’Reilley or Sean Hannity we are talking about.

It is true that there is a divide in American politics. As the news organizations and programs take their sides, and candidates can take advantage of that now.

It would be a shame of the GOP backed out of it.

Michael Moore is an idiot. I applaud him for attacking the healthcare industry but all too much he likes to package healthcare into a neat package that is seemingly easy for good ole Americans to understand.

Michael Moore was on Larry King tonight debating with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the medical correspondent for CNN over some of the facts and figures that Michael Moore claimed that CNN had ambushed over a piece that Gupta ran on Sicko.

I admire Michael Moore for standing up for what he believes but arguing with individuals such as Gupta is just pointless. The argument over Cuba is ridiculous. Sure Cubans don’t have to pay that much for healthcare and it doesn’t really matter what statistics that Gupta or Moore were bringing up. The fact is that due to Fidel Castro’s policies of preventing Cubans from leaving the country, there would be no way that Cuban doctors could survive with that cheap of healthcare without Communist policies. Once they open the borders, Cuban physicians would flee and the result would be inflation.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta clearly beat up Michael Moore in their war of words, flustering Michael Moore on several points such as his belief that countries that have government sponsored healthcare get it for free.

I think that Michael Moore has a way of making things look black and white.

Gupta agreed with Michael Moore’s belief that ther are problems with healthcare. Working in the healthcare industry myself I am inclined to believe both of them but I also caution that healthcare is not an easy switch that we can turn on and off. It’s a very complex issue that goes way beyond just the issue of commercial vs. social medicine.